Center Welcomes Harold Montgomery to Advisory Council

Harold Montgomery, who received his bachelor‘s and MBA degrees at Stanford University before founding a Dallas-based electronic payment processing firm, has joined the Advisory Council of the Bill Lane Center for the American West. As a member of the council, Montgomery will help guide the Center as it makes its transition to a new director in 2013, and seeks to expand and refine its work supporting research, teaching, and reporting in the American West.

‘Harold comes from a family with deep roots in Texas and a deep commitment to public service -- as well as abundant connections with Stanford," says Center faculty director David M. Kennedy. "He will bring to our Advisory Council his intimate knowledge of the region‘s history and his passion for its future, and, of course, his matchless business acumen as we plan for the next phase of the Center‘s development.’

Montgomery is the Chairman and CEO of Calpian, which provides electronic payment processing services to retail merchants around the United States. He is a widely known authority in the transaction processing industry, contributing to trade publications and speaking regularly at regional and national conferences. He has been a resource for the Federal Reserve Bank Card Payment Center in Philadelphia, and has testified before Congress as an expert witness on credit card legislation.

He is a native of Dallas, Texas, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Communities Foundation of Texas and the Board of St. Mark‘s School of Texas. He has served as President of the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations and Young Audiences of Greater Dallas. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, and was a member of the Young Presidents‘ Organization from 1991 to 2009.